After taking a few moments to squeeze some water out of my green hair and dress up again, I went inside. Unsurprisingly, it was only a few moments until the old druid noticed the change in my mood and asked me about it. He seemed very interested to hear about the new transformation I had achieved.

"Well, I guess might say you're now better at shapeshifting than I am. I've only ever had one animal form. You'll probably need to study more by yourself from now on, although there is still much I can teach you as well."

The news came to me as a bit of a shock. Of course it was pleasant to hear that I was getting good at something, but I couldn't quite stomach the idea that I had actually surpassed my mentor at something. He had always seemed to me like some sort of an absolute power that I could count on. Of course I was being naive, thinking like that. The time had come for me to truly grow up, all those evening stories, that had been essentially a source of imagination for me, finally becoming reality in my mind.

Without any further conversation, it was clear to both of us that I had chosen what to focus the rest of my studies on.

As time passed, I learned more quicker and better ways to transform myself. I was getting to the point where it was so easy for me, that I could shapeshift rapidly in a fight.

One thing kept bothering me though. I never actually fought for real. Not even a practice match with the old druid. Although I was getting pretty good at what I did, I began to wonder if my confidence would hold once I face real danger.

Two more years passed as I continued to study and train myself. And around came my nineteenth birthday. I remember I was somewhat expecting the old druid to make it a special day for me, since nineteen is the age at which young night elves are considered adults. Not long after I had woken up, the day turned out to start like any other one. At breakfast, there was no mention whatsoever about my age. After that, I spent the whole day in the woods, thinking that the old druid had probably just forgotten what day it was.

When it was already getting dark and I was about to head back to the cottage, the old druid came to me. I don't know how he found me, but that wasn't the first thing in my mind. For several years, he had never come to meet me during the day, so I was a bit surprised by his arrival.

"Ah, there you are.", he said as he approached. Almost immediately, he turned around as if to walk back and continued:

"Come with me. I have something to show you."

The mysterious look on his face silenced me, so I just followed without a word.

In about half an hour, we came to a small lake. I'm not sure what it's called, but it was much larger than the little pond at the cabin and there was a small round island in the middle of it. The island was littered with different sized stone columns and structures, but most of them were broken, toppled over, or otherwise ruined. What made the scene particularly odd was the fact that there was no visible way to get to the island, save for swimming, which made the ruins on the island stand out as an oddity, rather than meld into the surroundings.

"Ah, we're here", the old druid said and stopped.

"I have put something on that island over there. You can't see it from here, but it's there."

He then turned to me.

"I would like you to go and get it."

The task seemed far too simple for such a mysterious presentation.

"I know you're a good swimmer, so let's make this a little harder. Let's assume the water is filled with some hostil creatures...say...naga, for example. Even a tiny touch to the surface of the water will cause them to pull you underwater and...well, you can guess the rest. You may use your powers, as well as anything you find around the lake, but I must be able to see you from here at all times."

As I was about to start looking around, he added:

"Oh, and please do take your time. This is a test of skill, not speed."

Then he sat on a tree stump behind him and looked at me expectantly. I started to look around for possible solutions, because I had the feeling that there was a ceratin something that this little problem was supposed to teach me. After about ten minutes, the only thing I could think of was a large tree, partially bent over the lake. With a bit of manipulation, I could've made it grow long enough to allow me to climb over the water. However, there was no telling what it was that I was supposed to bring back, and it could prove difficult to climb while carrying it...if it needed carrying at all. Still, growing the tree was the only idea I could come up with.

As I begun to focus for the task, another idea suddenly struck my mind. Yet another thing I had read about in that book the old druid had given to me. Once again I searched inside myself for those animal forces and quickly identified the ones I had unleashed before, but neither of them was what I was looking for. Then, after quite a while, I found it and called upon it. As the transformation begun, I started to shrink. My arms turned into feathery wings, and in a few moments I had morphed into a brown hawk, ready to take off to the sky.

Then I realized the flaw in my plan. Learning to fly was no easy task. The amazed look on the old druid's face when he saw me achieve a new form started to turn into an amused smile as I hopped and flapped around, trying to get a hang of how to use my wings properly. It took me about half an hour for me to get confident enough to try and cross the water by air. I was successful, but I knew I'd still need to practice flying quite a bit more if I wanted to fly any longer distances.

After making an unbalanced and rather rough landing on the island, I started to look around for whatever I was supposed to find. The only thing that didn't seem like it had been there for several years was a long wooden stick stuck on the ground in the middle of the island. It didn't seem special in any way, but it certainly was the only thing that had been brought there recently.

As I returned to the old druid and transformed back, holding the stick in my right hand like a staff, he greeted me with a smile.

"You did even better than I expected. I had no idea you could just fly over there."

"Neither did I", I replied truthfully. "What is this?"

"That's your birthday present. And don't give me that look, it's not any random stick I picked up, even if it looks like one."

"Then...", I started and looked at the staff.

"Well, technically it IS just a wooden stick, but...this one has special qualities. With your powers, you can manipulate it, as if it was an actual living tree. Additionally, what you choose to grow from it is not limited by any standard species. In other words you could, for instance, make one end of it bloom a rose while having a branch of oak grown from the other one."

I was just standing still, amazed.

"I think you'll find it quite useful someday. But right now, I think it might be a good idea to return to my house and get another night's sleep, don't you think?"

It took me a while to fall asleep that night. I was all too eager to try out what I could do with the staff. And to learn more about flying.